JAKARTA, ARKIPEL, Forum Lenteng — Kurang lebih 22 orang mengisi bangku penonton di Studio 1 XXI, Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) pada hari Minggu, 14 September, 2014, pukul 14.30. Filem yang ditayangkan hari ini merupakan salah satu rangkaian Program Presentasi Khusus ARKIPEL Electoral Risk – Jakarta International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival 2014, bekerja sama dengan Bangkok Experimental Film Festival (BEFF). Program ini diadakan untuk melihat bagaimana perkembangan para filmmaker mancanegara, khususnya Asia Tenggara, mengembangkan dan mempresentasikan sinema dokumenter eksperimentalnya.
Berdurasi 75 menit, filem berjudul The Songs of Rice (Uruphong Raksasad, Thailand) berjalan tanpa narasi sedikit pun. Premisnya cukup sederhana, yakni proses penanaman padi hingga musim panen, serta kegiatan sehari-hari para petani beras di Thailand. Sinematografi yang apik membuat hamparan padi yang menguning terlihat begitu indah. Seringkali gambar terlihat buram karena diambil ketika langit sedang mendung. Seorang petani tampak menikmati pekerjaannya menanam padi di bawah derasnya hujan. Beberapa orang anak dan seekor anjing bermain kejar-kejaran di sawah ketika sawah tersebut sedang disiangi. Di luar pekerjaan, anak-anak dan petani menunggangi kerbau-kerbau mereka dalam lomba balapan kerbau. Kerbau-kerbau itu juga dimanfaatkan dalam berbagai festival tradisional. Mereka menarik gerobak yang dihias sedemikian rupa dengan bunga-bunga dan pita-pita beraneka warna, berkeliling desa.
Di sepanjang cerita, sangat terlihat bahwa beras begitu dirayakan di sana. Mereka mengadakan festival pada musim panen sacara besar-besaran. Wanita-wanita menari sementara prianya menyalakan kembang api raksasa yang terbuat dari bambu. Bahkan pendeta-pendeta di kuil setempat memberkati umat mereka dengan nasi, dan mengungkapkan betapa pentingnya nasi bagi kehidupan manusia. Dalam satu adegan, seorang wanita memanggang segumpal nasi yang dililitkan pada batang seperti sate, sambil mendendangkan lagu tentang jerih payah seorang ibu yang membesarkan anaknya sampai dewasa namun dilupakan. Nyanyian tersebut diumpamakan dengan memberi makan sang anak dengan nasi hingga ia menuju kedewasaannya.
Bagi saya, sangat menyenangkan untuk melihat bagaimana makanan dirayakan dan dihargai sedemikian rupa. Saya menyadari bahwa nasi bukanlah sekadar nasi, namun makanan pokok bagi banyak orang, termasuk Indonesia. Seketika saya teringat nasihat ayah saya ketika saya masih kecil, “Habiskan nasinya, kalau dibuang nanti mereka nangis!”
The Songs of Rice: The song of Celebration for Rice
JAKARTA, ARKIPEL, Forum Lenteng — Approximately 22 people filled the seats in the Studio 1 of XXI, Ismail Marzuki Park (Taman Ismail Marzuki or TIM—red) on Sunday, September 14, 2014, at 14.30. The film that was screened today was one of a series of programs from Special Presentation of ARKIPEL Electoral Risk – Jakarta International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival 2014, in collaboration with the Bangkok Experimental Film Festival. Special Presentation program was held to see how the foreign filmmaker, especially Southeast Asia, developing and presenting experimental documentary cinema.
75 minutes, the film entitled The Songs of Rice (Uruphong Raksasad, Thailand) ran without the slightest narrative. The premise was simple enough, the process of rice cultivation to harvest, as well as the daily activities of rice farmers in Thailand. Tremendous cinematography made the expanse of yellow rice looks so beautiful. Often the image looks blurry because it was taken when the sky is overcast. A farmer who was planting rice seems to enjoy her work under the pouring rain. Some children and a dog playing catch in the paddy field as being weeded. Outside the work, the children and farmers were riding their buffaloes in buffalo racing competitions. The buffalo was also used in a variety of traditional festivals. They pull carts that were decorated in such a way with flowers and colorful ribbons around the village.
Throughout the story, it was seen that the rice was so celebrated there. They held a harvest festival on a large scale. The women danced while her men ignited the giant fireworks made of bamboo. Even the pastors in the local temple blessed them with rice, and revealed the importance of rice to human life. In one scene, a woman was baking a pile of rice which was wrapped around the trunk like satay, while singing a song about a mother who had raised the child to adulthood but then be forgotten. The singing was likened to feed the children with rice until they face maturity.
For me, it was very pleasant to see how the food was celebrated and rewarded in such a way. I realize that the rice was not just rice, but the main food for many people, including Indonesia. Instantly I remembered my father’s advice when I was little, “Finish your plate of rice, if you left any of them they’d cry!”
